Cook for Vestavia Hills City Council

Strengthen Your Voice...Great By Choice

MEET KIMBERLY

PTO

Joan Ragsdale Copeland: Thank you for your endorsement of my candidacy for city council.

In spring 2014, I applied for the school board for the first of four times. Part of that process was to gather recommendation letters from people with whom I had worked closely in various capacities over the years. Joan served as the second PTO President at our neighborhood middle school (Liberty Park Middle)--a foundational role as our school experienced all the start-up challenges and opportunities of new beginnings.

In the early days of LPMS, I implemented an online registration system, at no cost to the school system and modeled after one I helped start at VHELP the previous year along with Anne Siple. At the time, none of the other schools in our system had online registration, and I credit Anne with being the first at VHELP to suggest we should try developing our own process.

In LPMS's first full year of operation, our principal, Kacy Pierce, was bold enough to allow me this experiment, which streamlined the registration process for parents and our school bookkeeper and was a prototype for future registration processes. I developed the process and all the written instructions for parents, as well as guiding parents through this new process as the only "help desk" contact.

During this same time, I also served on the board as the V.P. Newsletter Editor for two years, creating the first online and printed PTO newsletter for our school.

COMMUNITY

Kimberly is a long-time resident of Vestavia Hills. Shortly before moving to Vestavia Hills in 2002, Kimberly resigned her job as a senior systems engineer with SouthTrust Data Services so she could devote more time to her family and community volunteerism. Kimberly is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and holds a degree in Computer Science and Music.

Ever since her oldest son entered Scouting, Kimberly has been a volunteer leader. Currently, she is a Commissioner for the Vulcan District Boy Scouts, serving Pack 213 (Cahaba Heights UMC), Pack 776 (Liberty Park Baptist) and Troop 76 (Liberty Crossings UMC). She coordinates membership and recruiting functions as Membership Chairman for the Vulcan District Committee, and is an active leader in her son’s Boy Scout troop in Liberty Park. Kimberly enjoys camping, being outdoors, and working to improve the character and leadership skills of our youth.

Kimberly also serves as a member of the Jefferson County Republic Executive Committee. She is active in her church, having taught youth Sunday School for over 20 years at Dawson Family of Faith. Kimberly is a stateside prayer advocate for a missionary team serving in the Horn of Africa. She helped her daughter start an organization, Let the Children Come, to raise funds for and lead a weeklong camp for Ethiopian orphans. Kimberly enjoys spending time with students in her student ministry role at Dawson.

Kimberly has developed many connections over the years through her work with PTOs at four of our city schools--Pizitz Middle School, Liberty Park Middle School, Liberty Park Elementary, and the high school. Kimberly has held a variety of positions, such as Room Mom, Registration Chairman, Partners in Education Chairman, Corporate Fundraising Chairman, V.P. Newsletter Editor at LPMS and VHHS and member of the Cash for Classrooms Committee. Her service in the PTO has given her a broad knowledge of our school system. Most importantly, her service in the PTO has yielded valued friendships.

In her spare time, Kimberly enjoys blogging, responding to constituent concerns on Facebook, playing the piano, writing, hiking, camping and quilting.

Kimberly and Greg are both leaders in their son's Boy Scout Troop. They also serve as leaders for the Vulcan District (Kimberly) and Greater Alabama Council (Greg).

Kimberly helped her daughter organize a ministry, Let the Children Come, to minister to orphans in Ethiopia.

Kimberly enjoys working with students through Dawson Student Ministry at her church.

FAMILY

Kimberly’s husband, Greg, is a partner in the law firm of Balch & Bingham, LLP. Greg serves on the Executive Committee for the Jefferson County Republican Party and is a deacon for the Dawson Family of Faith.

Kimberly has two children who have graduated from Vestavia Hills High School--Geoffrey, Class of 2010, and Mary Catherine, Class of 2014. Her son, Will, is currently a student at the high school and stays active pursuing his Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scout Troop 76. Geoffrey, a graduate of the University of Alabama and Eagle Scout, is a software developer in Washington, D.C. Mary Catherine is a senior at Vanderbilt University, studying political science in preparation for law school.